studio calico feb kit: front row!

The SC February kit is live and available for purchase, people!  Loved the softer, yet still VERY happy colors this month.  Beautiful blues and yellows and greens...they reminded me of a Spring that's soon to come.  :)  In addition to the main kit (Front Row), I also picked up the Big Screen and Junior Mints add-ons, although it was a tough decision not to just pick up all four.  A really tough decision.  But the angel on my right shoulder won out this time, and left the devil on my left shaking his head and muttering, "You're gonna regret it, mark my words."

Ok, so I regretted it.  Whatever.  What's he know?

The galleries are also live for the SC Creative Team, and I urge you to head over and check them out.  Once again, I'm so inspired by all of the creativity going on.  Just fantastic.

Here are my contributions to the February Front Row gallery...

(If you click on the images, you can see them in better detail and you won't get all wrinkly by squinting your eyes at the screen.)

This layout was created using only the main scrapbook kit:

Wood veneer geotags and skinny arrows?  Yes and yes.

The remainder of my pages all used a combination of the main kit, plus the Big Screen and Junior Mints add-ons.  I mixed 'em alllll up.  

I adore the ombre washi tape in the main kit this month.  It's what I used behind the "calendar girl" title here.

More wood veneer geotags from the main kit, only I flipped them upside down and now they're wood veneer rain drops on this page.  That cityscape stamp is also in the main kit this month.  Squee!

This page uses the folded index tab cut file that's available in the digital shop this month and all of the patterned papers are from the Big Screen Add-On.  I'm going to use the crap out of that cut file.  Just sayin'.

Loved the glitter borders from the Junior Mints Add-On! This page also uses a cut file from the digi shop.  Love me some SC digi shop.

I also picked up the Project Life kit, and while I didn't create any DT projects with it, I am thrilled to use it in my own personal Project Life album.  The designs are gorgeous.  If you're not on the waiting list to subscribe to the PL kit yet, um...what are you waiting for?  GO.

walk with confidence...

Studio Calico has 3 new product lines coming out very soon, and they're all so pretty.  I can't wait to get my hands on the Snippets, Here & There, and Sundrifter goodies, but until then, I'm still enjoying the stuff from their previous releases.  This layout was created using papers from their Heyday and Yearbook collections, and wood veneer embellishments from Classic Calico and their most recent collection, Darling Dear.

My daughter is learning about origami in her Art Lit lesson this month at school, and reading about the history of origami inspired me to give these folded stars a try...

She was presenting a speech in class that day, and I'd spent the walk to school giving her a pep talk.  :)  She was totally nervous, but as I predicted, she rocked it.  She really IS a star.

So's ya know...the Darling Dear wood veneer alphabet is still available in the Studio Calico shop, so grab some while you can!

(sneaky) bright ideas

Nicole Samuels has put together a new class for Studio Calico which starts up on February 1, and I've been given the go ahead to share a little peek of what I've created.  I like little peeks, don't you?

I used a really fun technique in Photoshop as a design element on this page, and when the class goes live, so will my instructional web video career.  ;)  Yep, I put together a step-by-step video to walk you through how to give your text shape and make it function as a part of your overall layout design.

  The freebies for this class are amazing.  Nicole has put together some fabulous printable journaling cards and die cuts, not to mention the Silhouette cut files.  The "#goodtimes" in the image above is one of the freebies for class students, and the "remember this" arrow in this next image is another one.  The navy and red label is from the sheet of exclusive printable labels, too.  I like exclusive freebies, don't you?

Registration for the Bright Ideas class is open until January 31st, so I'd head over there while you're thinking of it and take a look.  It promises to be inspiring and bright and full of ideas.  :)  

I like that.  And I won't ask.  But I'll bet you do, too.

aleida's challenge

How often do you get in front of the camera with your kids?  My answer?  Not very often.

Sure, I expect the kids to be cooperative whenever I pull out my camera or phone.  I ask them to recreate something they were just doing.  I don't care if they've just woken up and their hair is all cattywompus or they still have sleep boogers in the corners of their eyes.  

"It's real life, guys.  Get over it."  I've said it hundreds of times.  And they've pretty much gotten used to it.  (Pretty much.)

But when the camera is taken out of my hands?  Or someone else pulls out their phone to start shooting?

That's a different story.  

I duck.  I cover.  I wail and protest.  I'm pretty much a brat.  I do everything I can to avoid having my picture taken.  I just hate it.

But why? 

Well, the honest truth is that I don't like to see myself in pictures.  When I say that I hate it, I don't use the phrase lightly.  But that psychological battle is long and deep and won't be solved with this blog post.  So I'll move on.

My kids, however, don't share that aversion of seeing my photographic likeness.  I'd go so far to say that my kids are pretty dang fond of me, and while they might not think about it now, I'd bet cash money that someday they'd really appreciate having photos of me, photos taken WITH me.  Regardless of my weight or the status of my hairdo or whether or not creative cropping took place.

They don't care about that stuff.  They just love ME.

That's awesome.

I'm writing this in response to Aleida's Challenge that's going on at Studio Calico currently.  It's a simple one, and you don't even have to be a scrapbooker to do it.  The challenge is simply to get in front of your camera with your kids.  Once a month.

Aleida was a cherished member at Studio Calico, who blogged about this very topic in August of 2008.  In September of 2008, she was killed in a car accident.  

The irony is there, and it's hard to think about, isn't it?

I, too, lost my mom in a car accident in April of 2006.  And earlier that year, March maybe?,  I created a layout with a picture of the two of us that was taken on the Christmas morning previous.  And my journaling read, "I regret not having more pictures taken with my mom.  I need to get better about that."

That was the last picture I took with my mom.  I didn't get better about that.

While the irony is unpleasant and sad and makes me cry even now after having years to deal with her loss, it doesn't ever become less true.  Life is short.  It just is.  Even if we live to the ripe old age of 105, it doesn't slow down for anyone.  And we might not get the chance to do something we've been putting off until "tomorrow" or "sometime soon".

Now then.  Whether or not you're inspired to start tackling your bucket list with gusto is up to you.  But one of the easiest things you can do is just make sure you step out from behind your camera and get in front of it.  I don't know if I'll be able to achieve the "once a month" terms of the challenge, but I'll give it my honest-to-goodness best.  And I'll start now.  These pics were all taken within the past month at various times.  The fact that I have one of myself with each of my children is mind-blowing.  And it must be a sign.  :)

A few days before her accident, Aleida was quoted as saying,

"Have you ever seen a photograph of your own mother and thought to yourself how fat she looked? Or how she wasn't wearing make-up? Or wasn't dressed in a glamorous outfit?" 

~Aleida Franklin (1967~2008).

There's that irony again.  Sneaky little bugger.

Think about it, though.

I know I will be.  

Thanks, Aleida, for reminding me that regret sucks.  And for getting me off my butt to do something about it.

Now, if I were a completely changed person, I'd take a self-portrait right now as I'm sitting at my computer.  But seeing as how I'm in my floral granny bathrobe and am wearing yesterday's mascara, I can most assuredly tell ya...it's not gonna happen.

Rome wasn't conquered in a day, people.